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Israel Recognizes Palestinian Efforts to Stop Gunfire
Palestinian Police have started taking actions to stem shooting on Israeli citizens in the areas under full Palestinian control in the West Bank, Israeli military establishment said Sunday.
This marks the first time since the outbreak of the violence in the occupied Palestinian territories at the end of September, there was a recognizable effort by the Palestinian police to prevent shootings on Jewish settlements and Israeli citizens in the territories, according to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
Yom Tov Samia, head of IDF Southern Command, told Israel Radio, that there were only five incidents of gunfire Saturday night, as compared to 15 to 20 on previous nights.
In an interview with Israel Radio, Colonel Tivon, Battalion Commander in charge of the Hebron area in the West Bank said that the Palestinian forces did take some actions to prevent attacks against Jewish civilians but added that it was too soon to know if the efforts seen over the weekend would bear fruit.
Tivon noted that there were numerous shooting attacks in Hebron over the weekend and said he had no idea what the Palestinian forces were doing with the radical activists that were barred from shooting.
Palestinian National Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat issued a clear order Friday to stop shooting on the Palestinian side. The move was accompanied by massive announcements on the Palestinian media. The seven-week-old Israeli-Palestinian clashes have left more than 230 people dead, most of them Palestinians, and thousands of others wounded.
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